I could have sworn I felt baby
move once last week when I was laying in bed, as I put my cold hand on my
abdomen. Baby seemed to kick toward it,
as if to say “Brr, get that away from me!”
But I couldn’t make it happen again, so maybe I was just imagining
things. It does seem a little early to
recognize fetal movements since this is my first baby. I’ve read that many women don’t start feeling
it until 18-20 weeks if they’re a first-timer.
I suppose I shouldn’t get too impatient, but I am really excited for
that stage. Whenever my friends have
babies I’m always dying to feel the baby kick, but it’s always a little awkward
to ask someone if you can touch their belly.
Finally, I will be able to feel every single kick whenever I want!
I’m still trying to decide if my
belly looks like a bump or if I just look chunky (aka the “cheeseburger
phase”). So far I think the latter. Probably because I’m tall and have a long
torso, so there’s lots of room for baby to grow (a “king size bed to stretch
out in”, as my friend Katherine calls it).
What confuses me is that my whole belly seems to protrude more even
though the baby is supposed to be 3 in. below my belly button still. Why isn’t the bump concentrated there?
Matt and I made time for a date
night this weekend – we grabbed some Chipotle and went to see “Lincoln”.
I also spent a good deal of time looking at cribs and dressers for
baby. I found several that I liked, but
it’s hard to know whether they are worth the money. If money grew on trees, obviously it’d be fun
to splurge. But baby doesn’t care, it’s
really me that cares. I figure if I’m
going to invest in a convertible bed and dresser that our kid will use for the
next 18 years, why not invest in nice pieces of furniture? Nothing outrageous or fancy, but
nice-looking, something we’d want to display.
We aren’t college students anymore, we don’t need to buy stuff from IKEA
or Target. I want something that will
last. But the key question is, do we
really need a dresser NOW, or should we wait a couple years? Do we really need a convertible crib, or
would a cheap regular one do for now and we could worry about regular beds
later? In a way, I hate the expectations
society puts on us. We grow up dreaming
perfect nursery and all the cute stuff we could buy. But few people can actually afford that, and
most of it isn’t necessary. It would
probably be a lot easier if I was comfortable with garage sales and Craiglist,
but that’s just not going to happen.
There are so many routes we could go: we could invest in a nice crib and
dresser for about $1,300, which I’m told is reasonable. Or we could buy cheaper stuff from IKEA or
Walmart – functional, if not as pretty.
Or we could skip the dresser entirely for now and buy shelving with
those foldable cloth drawers. The key is
finding the balance between quality and value.
Obviously you could spend a fortune on baby stuff if you wanted to at
boutiques, but that’s a waste. But I
also don’t want to skimp and just buy something that’s cheaper if it isn’t as
high of quality, doesn’t last as long, isn’t as easy to assemble, etc. You get what you pay for. But sometimes pricey isn’t always
better. I think we’re just going to have
to go check out stores in person; it’s too hard to ascertain the quality
online. Wouldn’t it be nice if babies
not only came with manuals, but pregnancy did too? I agree with Miranda on SATC – forget the
likes of Crib Universe and We Have Everything, how about a store called This Is
the Crib For You?
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